It is August 18
and "Thank the Lord," we are now on our long but positive part of our
journey. Operations are over, blood sugar has leveled out, blood
pressure is 114/70, and therapy is well on the way.

We have living with us Shivaun, Brenda and Greg,
all who want only God's will for their lives. They are like angels, and
everything Ray fought against he is finding a comforting blessing. He
gets up three
times a day for meals and a walk in his wheelchair. His therapy is
still
in bed. Friday he will try walking on one prosthesis with a walker. It
is
a challenge but he seems ready to meet the challenge. The therapist
said
it will take a year before he walks with no limp - no cane.

My real reason for writing is to let you know that
your support was surely one of the contributing factors in Ray's
recovery. Our dear friends all seemed to be cheering him on as he kept
going down, rising and going down again. He beat all odds. God surely
has a reason for sparing his life.

Do you want to hear a capsulated story of Ray's
journey from old life to death and into new life? "Though I walk
through
the valley of the shadow of death, lo, He is with us."

At about 2:00 a.m. on April 11, Easter Sunday, Ray
awakened me to tell me he couldn't breathe. His lungs were full of
water. John, Kris's husband was with us from Colorado. I ran downstairs
and told him to go by Ray while I called 911. Within 1/2 hour he was in
emergency at Hoag Hospital. From then on the glory of God shown round
about him, and one part of him (his old man) went through heart
failure, kidney failure, and stomach failure; everything shut down, but
his spirit and new man started emerging. In the early hours of the
morning of April 13, he asked me to pray with him and I told him to
pray along with me. After we finished, he said, "Oh, thank you for
helping me find my place in the Rock." Well in prayer we had never
called Jesus "the Rock", so I knew he was speaking from his own
experience.

Then he began like a sage of old, giving us
counsel on our Colorado property. He said he and Doug would be ranch
hands working together. He wanted to get out of bed and warn the people
that we are headed into something great and terrible but he said no one
was prepared nor would they understand, for they had all left the
living God. He said Piecemakers would understand, so I called Anne and
Doug and they came up to the hospital about 2:00 a.m. He said, "I think
I'm going to leave you all. God's calling me." Anne said, "No, Ray",
and he said, "Don't say that, Anne." His spiritual death to that old
Catholic stubborn man was so real he kept thinking he
was dying physically. He made the nurse pull all the machines. He told
the
nurses to thank God daily because their job was given to them by God.
He
said the city of Costa Mesa knew we (Piecemakers) were God's people and
we should be sure we represented Him as He is. He told about people who
called
him trying to convince him that I was leading people astray. To my
surprise,
he told them I was walking with the true God and not to concern
themselves
about the rest of the Piecemakers.

Well, what went on from 2:00 a.m. until 6:00 a.m.
was a story written in the heavens. At 4:00 a.m., Mike came in and Ray
said, "Mike, I'm leaving. Don't feel bad. Be sure and thank God for
your
little business and talk often to Him and listen to Him." Mike kept
saying
through tears, "Yes, Pops, I understand, Pops". Ray said, "Hug me,
Mike,"
and Mike fell into his arms. When Ray pulled through and didn't die,
Mike
said (like only Mike can,) "I'm going to kick his ass when he gets out
for
putting me through that awful time."

Kris came home from Colorado when his kidneys
started failing and then one thing after another happened. First his
right
leg was cut off below the knee. His back caused him more problems than
anything else. His ruptured disc was so bad morphine didn't touch the
pain.

He
began to rally, never
really coming all the way back to life. We went to the Mesa Verde
Convalescence Hospital to recover. When I say we, I mean just that. We
had private rooms, and for four months we lived in hospitals. We both
had more ambulance rides than any family has in a lifetime, from Mesa
Verde to Hoag to the pain clinic for epiderals for his back. He was too
sick to operate on.

One day we said to the doctors, "You have to
operate. If he dies, he dies. He can't stay in this pain forever." So
after a week at Hoag, the doctors, after warning us about his slim
chances, operated. Time passed that day. We knew if he made it through
the first hour of anesthesia, he'd live. He went in at 8:30 and at
4:00, out came Ray. Marj (our daughter) stayed all day, and Babe and
Chris, my sister and niece, came, too, to
say "hi" as they wheeled him into I.C.U.

After another week at Hoag (I won't go into detail
of the two week ordeal) we went back to Mesa Verde where his other foot
began deteriorating and rotting away. So back to Hoag and another
amputation. This left him without a sound voice - no appetite, gagging
when he ate,
and very weak. After a week we took him home to recover where the dogs,
the grand kids, a couple from Germany and their two little angels
filled
the house. And here he began to improve. How fun to hear him say, "This
smoothie tastes good." Or suddenly to hear his natural voice or see him
turn over by himself in bed.

Little by little God is restoring him - his very
nature transformed as he is forced to have patience, to say "thank
you". He is forced to become humble as he needs others to assist him.
Too bad he
was forced into doing what Christ came to help us do, i.e., get rid of
our
proud, independent, arrogant life and take on His gentle nature.
However, Ray said, "A leg is a small price to pay to gain eternal
life." He also said,
"Now I know why they call sick people patients (patience)."

On Saturday night, August 7, we all gathered
around two tables in our family room. It was Ray, myself and our
extended family, Brenda, Shivaun, John and Leslie Mackie from Germany
with their two children, Jill and John Ryan - and then people we had
never met but God brought to our table, friends of John and Leslie,
Mark, Pat and four-year old, Anne. We all bowed our heads and gave
thanks to God for Ray's survival and future recovery. The glory of the
Lord hovered over us. Nine-year old John Ryan, who had never sensed
God's presence, said, "Where are the hidden cameras? Surely someone is
making a movie of us."

What a peaceful, quiet dinner! No whooping, no
drinking, bowed hearts before the Lord, thankful for things we take for
granted.

Well, dear friends, your prayers and really
truthful wishes for him were the best medicine.

This past five months I can honestly say have been
the best time of my life. I think Ray would agree. After every meal we
go for a rather long walk. There is always an entourage, which of
course, includes Freckles, our little cute Cocker.

Our place in Ridgway, Colorado, is beginning to
hum with activity. There are twelve in the house at present. The house
is huge with deer all around, mountains on all sides with a river
running
through it. Ridgway is a small town. The men have all found work and
the
women are busy baking bread, gardening, and keeping house. They went to
one craft show and have two more lined up. It's a perfect place for our
young men to go and learn how to build, tile and farm. You are all
welcome
to come and enjoy it with us.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the
days of our life and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever."